Woman Killed Sons, Ex and Stepmom to Collect Insurance: Cops

Told cops one of her sons murdered three before killing himself

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Susan Hendricks. Hendricks, 48, has been charged with four counts of murder for the deaths of her two sons, ex-husband and stepmother.

A South Carolina woman who told cops her son murdered his brother, father and another family member before killing himself has been charged with committing all four slayings to collect insurance money.

Police charged Susan Diane Hendricks with the Oct. 14 murder of her two sons, Matthew, 23, and Marshall, 20, her ex-husband Mark Hendricks, 52, and her stepmother, Linda Burns, who was in her mid-60s, after her story unraveled Monday. Hendricks, 48, was also charged with four counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Hendricks was arrested Monday night at the Quality Inn in Easley, S.C., according to The Pickens Sentinel reported.

On the morning of the killings, police were called to Hendricks' house in Liberty, Pickens County Assistant Sheriff Tim Morgan said. They found a "significant trail of blood" after entering, the newspaper reported. The bodies of Matthew Hendricks and and Linda Burns were found in the house.

Evelyn Burns, Hendricks' sister who originally called the police, then told police that she was worried about her family, who lived nearby. Authorities then discovered the bodies of Marshal and Mark Hendricks, The Pickens Sentinel reported.

Based on observation at the scene, forensic evidence and interviews with family members, investigators determined that Hendricks was lying. Family members told police Hendricks was the beneficiary of multiple life insurance policies taken out by the victims, according to a police report.

Police said Hendricks killed the victims with a handgun that she kept in her night stand.In 2006, she shot and killed a man she claimed had broken into her home, and police determined at the time she acted in self-defense.

But the alleged murders earlier this month have shocked even hardened cops.